1. Field
One embodiment of the invention relates to a video decoding device and a video decoding method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a number of pieces of information processing apparatus is increasing, the information processing apparatus being, for example, a PC (Personal Computer) or the like, which can decode an encoded video bit stream being encoded in conformance with an encoding scheme such as H.264/AVC (hereinafter also referred to simply as “H.264”) or the like. However, the decoding operation of the video bit stream encoded in the encoding scheme such as the H.264 requires a large amount of calculation power, and may be delayed if all calculations are performed. It is considered that the decoding operation is performed by the dedicated GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). However, the calculating speed for the specific prediction method for the weighting prediction or the like becomes significantly slow in dependence upon the characteristics of the GPU as may cause a delay.
Several methods for reducing the load on the decoding of the encoded video bit stream have been conceived (as referred to JP-A-2006-101405, for example). The document JP-A-2006-101405 discloses an information processing device that omits decoding a picture unreferred from another picture.
In the method described in the document JP-A—2006-101405, however, the picture unreferred from another picture is instantly determined not to be decoded, thus raising a problem that the image quality will be deteriorated.